The data center sector continues to grow rapidly, as in previous years. Technological evolutions, both in terms of computing and connectivity, set the tone for an industry that provides the basic infrastructure for the operation of most of the services we use on a daily basis: email, instant messaging, streaming, e-commerce…
Thus, the industry itself is looking for innovative solutions, which can adapt to a need for greater processing capacity and the increase in data traffic worldwide, which since 2020 has seen a 200% increase according to a DE-CIX report.
The competitiveness of the industry depends on the ability to find new solutions that improve efficiency, reduce operating costs and maintain the best 24x7x365 service.
Based on these premises, we have set out to look ahead to 2024 to identify the trends that are postulated as key for the new year in the development of data center technology.
The data center sector is no stranger to the technological reality we are currently experiencing. While it is true that Artificial Intelligence has been developing for years, the emergence of Generative AI has marked a before and after in the market.
The services associated with these tools require a very high computing capacity, which will undoubtedly be a challenge when designing data centers, preparing them to accommodate high densities in IT rooms.
Thus, as Nvidia’s CEO recently explained, “in the next four years, Big-Tech companies will invest $1 trillion to increase processing capacities for AI”. This will undoubtedly lead to a growth in demand in the Colocation sector.
In recent years, energy and water efficiency have played a very important role in the data center sector. The reference values for PUE and WUE have been optimized. New forms of cooling and energy management have been added to this. On the other hand, back-up systems, which rely on fossil fuels, are also being adapted with the use of renewable fuels, in favor of sustainability.
It is important to highlight that Nabiax always counts on the latest technology to develop its data center projects. This makes the technical equipment increasingly efficient in the management of resources. This, added to a 100% use of renewable energy.
On the other hand, regulation in this area will also play an important role. In particular, the directive being prepared by the European Union for data centers, which will emphasize aspects such as energy efficiency, use of renewable energies, reuse of waste heat (district heating) and efficiency in cooling and water use, among others.
In this sense, construction will adapt to this trend. Traditionally, data centers have relied on infrastructures composed of fixed cooling and management systems. However, and especially since the emergence of hyperscale, this growing demand is leading to the emergence of tests with prefabricated modular solutions that significantly reduce implementation times.
In this way, thanks to prefabricated modules, scalability and changes in data center systems can be more agile and flexible, with the ability to apply more environmentally friendly technologies. All of this saves costs and allows more effective forecasting of the real needs of the systems.
In order to further improve operational efficiency, process automation will increasingly come into play to improve all available resources. Different tools are used to automatically coordinate and manage data center resources, dynamically allocating them according to demand.
In addition, through intelligent monitoring systems, anomalies can be detected in real time, being able to self-correct and automatically address possible common problems. Another advance being developed is the automatic generation of reports and performance analysis, which will enable rapid insights into the status and efficiency of the entire data center.
In addition to improving responsiveness, this strategy optimizes repetitive tasks and takes the pressure off the human team by allowing them to focus on more relevant operational aspects.